boneless
adjEtymology From Middle English bonles, banles, from Old English bānlēas (“boneless”), from Proto-Germanic *bainalausaz, equivalent to bone + -less. Cognate with Scots baneless (“boneless”), Dutch beenloos (“boneless; legless”), German beinlos (“legless”), Swedish benlös (“boneless”), Icelandic beinlaus (“boneless”).
1
Without bones, especially as pertaining to meat or poultry prepared for eating.
- Near-synonyms: boned, deboned
- boneless chicken
4 more examples
- boneless, skinless chicken
- boneless wings
- The packers were always originating such schemes—they had what they called "boneless hams," which were all the odds and ends of pork stuffed into casings.1905 April–October, Upton Sinclair, chapter XIV, in The Jungle, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 26 February 1906, →OCLC:
- They argued over the menu. The fish was described as being 'Made From Flaky Tender Boneless Filets and the chicken as 'Delicious French Fried to a Golden Brown, Served Disjointed.'1954, Ian Fleming, “Allumeuse”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 107:
3
UK, Figuratively Lacking strength, courage, or resolve.
- I'm scared, I'm just boneless with fright.1916, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 18, in Uneasy Money:
- I remember, when I was a child, being taken to the celebrated Barnum's circus, which contained an exhibition of freaks and monstrosities, but the exhibit … which I most desired to see was the one described as "The Boneless Wonder." My parents judged that the spectacle would be too revolting and demoralizing for my youthful eyes, and I have waited fifty years to see the boneless wonder sitting on the Treasury Bench.1931, Winston Churchill, House of Commons, 13 May
2 more examples
- Had the Green consortium made a straight bid, boneless fund managers would easily have outvoted private investors.2006 November 11, Graham Searjeant, “Loyalty pays off for M&S shareholders”, in The Times, London:
- In his final years he [John Ogdon] gave an interview to an American journalist who noticed that "his handshake is a boneless fadeaway["].2014 May 11, Ivan Hewett, “Piano Man: a Life of John Ogdon by Charles Beauclerk, review: A new biography of the great British pianist whose own genius destroyed him [print version: A colossus off-key, 10 May 2014, p. R27]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review):
- Derived terms
- boneless lean beef trimmings, bonelessly, bonelessness, semiboneless